Apple has reached out to some iPhone 5S owners to offer a replacement iPhone 5S after it discovered a manufacturing problem which caused battery issues in a small number of its new flagship smartphone.
The Cupertino company has admitted that some iPhone 5S models have been experiencing battery issues – specifically; taking longer to charge or a much lower battery life than expected – and will issue free replacements under its one year warranty.
A statement issued by Apple reads;
“We recently discovered a manufacturing issue affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5S devices that could cause the battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life,”
“We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone.”
Apple hasn’t commented on the number of affected phones, though it is thought to be a relatively low number in comparison to the 9 million or more it sold in the first weekend since its launch alone.
If your iPhone 5S seems to be taking an age to fully charge or is lasting only a few hours once it is charged, Apple will probably be in touch shortly to arrange a replacement. Whilst it’s not clear exactly which manufacturing process has caused the problem, you can bet that Apple knows exactly which batch and which devices have the problem.
Apple recently announced its earnings for the fourth quarter of this year, revealing a drop in profits but a big surge in iPhone sales with 33.8 million units sold in three months alone. Due to major upgrades to its iPhone and iPad line which both feature better and costlier parts, Apple’s profits dropped but still looked crazy at £4.46 billion for Q4.
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